The Ghost Of You

by MadMan

Swallowed By The Night

Promise had lain on the rooftop for hours, listening to the wind and watching as the sun set, the stars rising to dance around the fresh moon. Her thoughts were grim, and her heart felt hollow. She brought her eyes down from the heavens to look over the rooftops in the direction of the Everfree Forest. It sat in the distance, vast and sorrowful. It seemed to Promise that the shadows that danced among the distant trees were darker than those inside the walls, perhaps given solidity by her fears.

Tonight was the night. Nightfury was leaving, and she was to go with him. The decision had snuck up on her, not even presenting itself as a choice. She could help, so she must. Even so, Promise couldn’t shake the feeling that she had bullied into taking her with him, but it needed to happen. There just wasn’t the time required to tell all that needed to be said, and the dungeon overseer had hinted that he had received orders to kill the dangerous prisoner if no information was obtained soon.

Promise sighed and lay her head on the cold stone roof. She wished she could be this house, solid and uncaring of the world or those that skittered about within it. A cold and stoic existence, to be sure, but one bereft of such emotional torture. Exhaling sharply through her nose, Promise rose and stretched. Surely her family was asleep by now, or at the very least in bed to where her departure would go unnoticed. She had spent the past days being as nice as possible, helping in every way she could, talking and spending time with her family. She tried to enjoy it, she really did, but the entire time she just couldn't ignore the fact that this might be the last time she ever saw any of them. The urge to spill had nearly overcome her several times, but each time she was able to wrestle her demons into a temporary submission.

Flicking her head to get a few wisps of pink out of her eyes, Promise turned and made her way to one side of the building, carefully lowering herself onto the small balcony below. Upon successfully returning to her room, Promise paused for a moment to listen. No sounds were immediately present, which meant her brother wasn't quite asleep. He snored.

It was now or never, and Promise sneered at the thought of letting this opportunity pass. She could help, and she would. Creeping to the door, she eased it open, looking both ways. All doors were shut, all lights extinguished. The walk to the front door was short, but it couldn't have seemed longer. With every step, Promise saw a memory.

That corner, where she had slipped and fallen as a filly coming out of her room, knocking out a tooth. That slightly browned spot on the floor, where she had dropped a candle and nearly set the house on fire. That painting on the wall of an anonymous hillside, the first thing she had ever bought with her own money. That first step, she had tripped over on the way up and dropped her grandmother’s vase, cracking it. The fourth step, where she had fallen going down and broken a leg. That minuscule dent in the wall at the bottom of the stairs, where her brother had fallen down the stairs and hit his head. That rickety table by the door, which always supported a vase of flowers, but nothing else. The worn brass doorknob, unspeakably ancient and nearly as familiar as her own bed. The stone walk leading to the street, she remembered helping lay when she was so very small.

Abruptly, Promise found herself outside. It wasn't where she wanted to be, but it’s where she had to be, since between herself and the castle was outside. To her wearied eyes, it was darker than it should have been. The shadows seemed as black as ink, and pushed against the moon's glow with defiance. Any number of terrors could be hiding in wait, and Promise imagined all of them. Around every corner was a knife, and every distant light became the glowing eyes of evil.

Promise slowly creeped her way through the city towards the castle, terrified one of the guards would stop her. It wasn't until she passed the two guards at the gate to the courtyard that she remembered she worked there, and was often entering and leaving at odd hours. To them, she was allowed there, and that was the extent of their thoughts on the matter.

The walk through the castle to her office was nearly as bad as the walk outside. The walls were closing in, and Promise dimly wondered if it was possible to die from asphyxiation from claustrophobia. The thought helped her pass the time until she reached her door, which she gladly closed and locked. She immediately realized she had left the lantern burning, and it was very low on oil, but still cast the room in a dull glow. Even if it was small and cramped, it was still somehow comfortable. A desk sat somewhere under the stack of papers and folders, and a bookshelf to one side looked as if it was about to collapse under the load of dusty tomes and more papers. It was to this shelf she moved, pushing aside a forest's worth of books to get the form she was after. Reading it one last time, Promise made her way to the desk. Heating the stamp with magic, Promise held the wax to the paper for a moment. Looking over the forged transfer papers one last time, Promise decided they looked as passably legitimate as she was likely to get them. She snuffed out the wick in the lantern and left.

-------------

Nightfury allowed himself a thin smile as he heard a door open, then close in the distance. Only one pony had any buisiness down in this pit at this hour. Sure enough, the door to his cell opened and Promise stepped through, a set of small bags over her back. He could tell there would be no last minute conspiring, as her eyes were hard and her jaw firmly set.

"I will undo your chains for a moment. You will not attempt to flee or fight. You will stand still as you are chained to your escort, after which you will be moved to another location. Understood?"

"Understood."

As soon as the chains were undone, Nightfury slowly rose and stood beside the table he had been chained to. He felt his head swing and spots flittered in his sight from laying prone so long, but he stood still as he waited for the escort to arrive. Instead, he was surprised as Promise produced a pair of thick hoof cuffs from her bag, and chained his left front leg to her right front leg. Once they were firmly attached, Promise met his eyes again.

"These cuffs have been enchanted to my vital signs. If something happens to me, you will die. Plain and simple. Understood?"

"Understood."

Clever girl.

Nightfury was led out of his cell, the small stone square he had almost came to refer to as home. He had to suppress the urge to laugh in the guards' face as he walked past them. Part of him tried to argue that this was far too easy, but another part reminded him that good luck happens and to just accept it. But still, he wanted this ring off his horn now, please.

After several turns and several more long hallways, Nightfury closed his eyes and let the fresh night air caress his senses. A tug on his chain asked him to continue walking, but he didn't let that stop him from enjoying this moment. As he was led through the city streets, he reveled in every smell, sight, and sound. A dog barked in the distance. An upper floor window had a light shining through. A light wind carried the scent of rain, as well as a chill.

Within a few minutes of walking, Nightfury had pinpointed his location in the city. Just south of the castle, heading west. Almost to the edge of the city. Elation threatened to rear it's head within his mind, when he remembered the ones who captured him. Those... things. He looked at Promise and debated asking her, but she led the way with surety in her steps, so he tried to follow suit.

Before long, they reached the edge of the city. Around the outer perimeter, a number of rough wooden barricades her been erected. Outside the barricades, the streets looked dirty abd dark, but he knew better. He knew what lurked in those particular shadows. For a moment, he feared Promise was going to go past the barricades into the dead zone, but she turned left and followed parrallel to them for a distance. After several blocks, he saw a torch ahead, with a single guard in the small circle of luminescence. Promise walked up to the guard, and wordlessly presented him with a piece of paper. Nightfury did his best to not appear like he was scanning his surroundings, spotting four more guards just outside the light, watching from around corners. There were most likely a few more behind him, but turning his head would be too obvious.

After a moment, the guard returned the piece of paper and allowed them too pass. There were more barricades to either side, but thier narrow passage was clear. A short walk later, more guards stood around the exit, another wordless transaction of the piece of paper, and they were outside the city.

They had made it.

Canterlot was now behind them, blissful darkness shrouding crowding the duo. The rattling chain was the only sound as they walked away from the place Nightfury barely recognized as home. He saved his sigh of relief until the perimeter guards' torches were no longer visible, which seemed to take eternity. As soon as the night was the only thing visible in every direction, he tugged on the chain.

"Are we there yet?"

Promise turned and smiled gently to him.

"Yes. I do think we are far enough now."

Bending, she removed the chains from around herself first, then Nightfury's leg. Immediately, he reached up to remove the ring from his horn, only to find he couldn't. He pulled as hard as he could, but to no avail. He cast pleading eyes to Promise.

"Little help, here?"

Promise chose not to say anything, instead leaning in close. He felt her breath on his face, but remained still. He couldn't help but notice she smelled lightly of lavender. He felt her teeth gently trace the spirals on his horn until she reached the small metal ring at the base. A gentle tug and he felt his magic rush back to him in an avalanche of sensation. Nightfury closed his eyes and opened his gaze to the magic around him, seeing the world in perfect clarity. He could see the trees off to his right, the hill they were standing on, the strands of grass waiting for sunlight to feed them, the tiny animals and insects sleeping in thier borrows and nests. Every detail was open to his scrutiny again. Including Promise. Her aura was clean and clear, the color of a fresh rose first blooming.

"You're beautiful."

"Why, thank you."

Promise's blush was apparent even with his eyes closed, but he opened them anyways. He took only a moment to admire her delicately pink eyes before turning away.

"Let's go. It's only a few hours to sunrise, and I plan on being far away by then."

"Yes, I agree. The supervisor wakes at dawn every day and makes his rounds, and our treachery will surely be discovered. Luckily, the entire guard force was replaced when Axion moved in, and they didn't realize the high-security prison I was transferring you to doesn't exist. However, he will know, and sound the alarm. It won't..."

Promise's sentence broke, and Nightfury looked back to see her choking back a sob. He immediately knew why.

"Let us make sure their sacrifice isn't in vain. You claim to know intricacies of Axion's war machine, so let's go put it to good use. We'll start by going to my squad's last known location."

Without waiting on her to reply, Nightfury turned off the road, heading to the Everfree Forest in the distance. It wasn't far, and they would have to wait on sunrise before attempting to navigate the woods, but he wanted to at least be in cover by dawn.

-------------

The sun was beaming down with vengeance, baking the land underneath it's gaze, but Promise couldn't feel it. In fact, she could barely see it. The trees were thick, leaving the forest floor in eternal dusk. She understood now why Nightfury decided to stop last night after only going a few yards in. She was glad now he told her to rest while she could, for they had been walking for hours, and the ruins were nowhere to be seen. Nightfury assured her that they were going in the right direction, but he admitted to being less positive about the distance.

"We're coming at it from a different direction, from farther off. I know we'll cross the northbound path here soon, but how soon, I am unsure."

Promise just smiled at him and focused on taking another step. She couldn't remember last time she got this much exercise. She stayed active enough to maintain her feminine figure, but not enough to build any real endurance. In opposition, Nightfury hadn't even broke a sweat yet. Every once in a while, he would attempt idle chatter, but Promise found talking to take too much energy, no matter how much she wanted to converse. He was a delightful specimen, full of knowledge and wisdom of the world.

Another step, another fallen log, another trial to overcome. Promise was about to ask Nightfury to pause in his crusade and take a breather, when she suddenly found herself walking on cobblestone. Weeds had grown in the cracks, dense enough to almost completely hide the ancient road, but here it was.

"Ah! Right where I left it."

Promise looked up at Nightfury, who was smiling off into the distance. Following his gaze, she saw what the crumbled remains of a gate and a wall in the distance.

"Finally! I thought we were never going to make it."

Nightfury tossed a cocky grin at Promise, and set off walking down the road.

"What, you though I was lost? Nonsense! I knew exactly where we were going."

"Exactly?"

"Well, not exactly. But, you know, close enough. We're here, and it's only just before noon. I hope there's plenty of food left, I could use a snack."

Promise's stomache answered before she could.

"I think I could eat the castle itself. I haven't eaten since dinner yesterday."

"Well, let's hurry on. I'm sure they'll have something."

As the pair neared the castle, Promise's anxiety grew. She trusted Nightfury, and she was pretty sure he trusted her, but would the rest of them accept her? What if they didn't? They couldn't let her go, she knew too much. Worries fluttered around in her head so much, she didn't realize Nightfury had stopped walking until she bumped into him. They were just outside the castle door itself, which was cracked open, but he didn't enter. He stood still, ears cocked.

"What's wrong?"

"Shh."

She stood silent, worries now different. There was no noise except for her own breathing. Nightfury took a cautious step forward and peeked in the door. After a moment's contemplation, he looked back at her and whispered.

"Stay here. I will return in a moment."

He quietly creeped through the door and disappeared. Promise held her breath as much as she could, not daring to make a noise. Terror lurked in every corner. What if the squad had been discovered and captured, and Axion's forces were waiting in ambush? They would both be put to death for sure. If they were lucky, immediately. If not, Promise knew all too well the gruesome tortures that would await them as traitors. She would be tortured first as Nightfury was made to watch, her pitiful screams used to heighten his anxiety to panic levels before they ever touched him. Which torture would they use? The superintendent had always been fond of-

"Oy."

"AAHH!"

Nightfury ducked and looked around, in case her screams had alerted someone or something to their presence.

"Quiet! It's me! Hush! Good gracious, you could waken the very stones with that racket."

"I'm sorry, you scared me!"

"It's okay. Let's just try to cut down on the bloodcurdling shrieks a bit."

"I'll try. Are they in there?"

"No, but they left me a note. They went to Ponyville, so that's where we're going."

"Okay. How far is that?"

"About as far as we just traveled."

Promise sat on the ground and sighed as her stomache rumbled again. It was going to be a very long day.

Author's Note:

Whee. Aight, I've had my fun. Back to TwiLuna and etc now.

Comments

[Kean]

Oh my, it's alive!

I've missed this story.

[debio]

It lives!

Not much to say about this chapter - looking forward to how this subplot plays out.

[MadMan]

5081612 5080243

YES, IT LIVEEEEESSSSSS!!!!!

(my apologies on taking so long. That might get to sounding a bit stale and overused, but it's still true.)